It is good fencing practice to fit a retaining Foot to key posts when erecting a fence. This would include the strainer post at each end of the proposed fence, angle post where there is a change in direction along the fence line and on those intermediate posts which are deemed at risk.
The task of the Foot is to prevent the post lifting out of the ground when tension is applied as in the case of a high tensile wire fence such as those used on the majority of New Zealand farms for stock management.
The foot can be made out of a variety of materials and is secured to the lower part of the post in such a way as to protrude into the surrounding ground so that when the hole dug for the post is rammed up the Foot is a major obstruction to the movement of the post. This has been the practice in those fences where the posts have been individually dug in.
There is a growing trend to use a post ramming machine to speed up the fencing task. These post rammers preclude the use of the traditional foot system and a variety of innovative solutions are being used to apply a Foot to a post after ramming.
All of these solutions require supplementary work on the post in question to implant the Foot substitute.
The rammed post approach to post erection needs a foot solution that is integrated with the ramming operation.
The same issues apply when ramming a post or pole for a construction project.